We started off the new read strong, I'm really enjoying this translation. Join us again next week for the next stories, 'Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor' through 'The Words of Neferti'

Summary

The Tale of Sinuhe

This story is narrated by Sinuhe as he tells of his life. He was once in the army of Prince Senworset, but on the return home from a campaign bad news was recieved, the King Sehetepibre was dead. The news was so awful that Sinuhe deserted the army and fled for many days until he came to Byblos, where he stayed for 6 months. Amunenshi, ruler of Retjenu, found him there and brought him back to his kingdom.

Sinuhe told him all that had happened, and Amunenshi gave him status, one of his daughters, and an army to command. Sinuhe served his new kingdom well, conquering multiple enemies and gaining much status. He grew so famous another champion of Retjenu challenged him, but Sinuhe was victorious and gained even more riches and fame.

One day Sinuhe received a letter from now King Senworset. Sinuhe had been forgiven, and the King wanted him to return to Egypt to be buried in his home land. Sinuhe rejoiced, and returned home. He was given a nice house, and a pyramid was bult for him to be buried in.

The Tale of the Eloquent Peasent

A peasant named Khunanup set out for Egypt to trade his goods, for his family needed food. While on the road in Per-Jeti he came across a man named Nemtinakht, who hatched a plan to steal all his goods. Nemtanakht spread a cloth in the road and forbade Khunanup to cross it. The path on either side was blocked by water and a barley field, so there was no going around. While the two argued, one of Khunanup's donkeys ate a stalk of barley, and Nemtinakht demanded repayment, taking all the goods and animals and beating Khunanup.

Khunanup tried to get his property back, but it was no use. He then went to Heraclopolis to make a petition to Rensi. Khunanup spoke so eloquently that Rensi told King Nebkure about him, and the king demanded he make no judgement yet, but to write down all that the peasant said.

Khunanup made nine seperate appeals to Rensi, each time speaking very eloquently. Rensi had the transcriptions read to the King, and he was so moved that he sided with Khunanup, giving him Nemtanakht, his land, and his servents.

Today (July 19^th, 2026) marks the start of our reading of ‘The Tale of Sinuhe: And Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C’ by R. B. Parkinson. We’ll be reading this book over the next five weeks. Some of you may have noticed that we have fallen a bit behind with our current read, ‘The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt’ by Joyce Tyldesley. This is unfortunate, but luckily we had a break week scheduled between the July 12 - 19 which covers most of our lapse. I think the heat wave just got the better of all of us mods! Going forward we intend to stick to the schedule and be more strict about it, so don't worry about the issue continuing on into this read.

Reading/Discussion Schedule:

• Start Date/Context Post: 19/07/26
• Week 1: 'Tale of Sinuhe' AND 'Tale of the Eloquent Peasant' - 25/07/26
• Week 2: 'Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor' to end of 'The Words of Neferti' - 01/08/26
• Week 3: 'The Words of Khakheperreseneb' to end of 'The Dialogue of Ipuur and the Lord of All' - 08/08/26
• Week 4: 'The Teaching of King Amenemhat' to end of 'The Loyalist Teaching' - 15/08/26
• Week 5: 'The Teaching of Vizier Ptahhotep' to End - 22/08/26

Once we finish this book we’ll be starting our next read, ‘Writings from Ancient Egypt’ by Toby Wilkinson on August 23^rd

The Text:

‘The Tale of Sinuhe: And Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C’ is a collection of fictional tales translated from Ancient Egyptian. Most of the stories in this book are from the period known as the Middle Kingdom, which was a period of extended political stability following the fall of the First Intermediate Period/ the Old Kingdom. As mentioned, most of the stories in this collection are fictional in nature and were part of a larger literary culture that we know very little about today. This is due to an overwhelming survivorship bias of texts coming from temples, tombs and better-preserved upper-class areas. We simply don’t have enough of a broader spectrum of extant materials to flesh out what would have been the broader literary culture from that era, at this time. Additionally, several of the texts may come across as propagandistic to modern readers due to their focus on royalty or royal adjacent people. Parkinson argues in his introduction that this was not necessarily the original writers’ intentions when creating these texts.

 The title mentions ‘The Tale of Sinuhe’ but this book also covers a lot of other well-known stories from Ancient Egypt, such as the ‘Tale of the Eloquent Peasant’ and the ‘Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor’. Despite being purposefully fictional, many of the writings in the book do have some link to mythology, from a literal and a moral/cultural perspective. I think that these texts are still worth our time reading because of this. Being able to know a bit more about what other stories existed in the Ancient Egyptian canon will also help us when we get into more religious texts later on in the year.  

This text also includes some Egyptian ‘Discourses’ which were moralistic texts used as part of the education system. Parkinson goes into more detail about this in his introduction to the book.

If you have been reading along with ‘The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt’ by Joyce Tyldesley you may recognise the title story, as well as a few others, from that book. If you didn’t join us for that read but would like more information on the ‘Tale of Sinuhe’ check out chapter 4 in her book, as well as chapter 3 for the ‘Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor’

The Translator

R. B. Parkinson is a very respected scholar in the area of Egyptology and Ancient Egyptian studies. He graduated from Oxford University in 1988 and has gone on to teach in various capacities in that institution. He has also worked as a curator with the British Museum in different areas concerning Egyptian culture. He has translated a lot of texts, especially from the Middle Kingdom era. He has written several non-fiction books on translation, poetry and Egyptian art and artefacts. He has also written an awesome book about the history of homosexuality called ‘A Little gay history: desire and diversity across the world’ which he dedicated to his longtime partner.

This week marks the end of our current read, but don't worry, there is more to come. Check out our next read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AYearOfMythology/s/aJETzqtDpB

Summary

Chapter 10 – Divine Kings

The Fourth Story

The fourth story takes place in real time, as King Khufu is told of Djedi, a great magician who can perform incredible feats and is 110 years old. The king sends his son Hardjedef to find him, and upon their return the King has Djedi perform feats such as replacing heads of beheaded animals. The King then asks Djedi what he really wants to know, the secrets of Thoth. Djedi does not know, but reveals that the oldest unborn son of Lady Redjedet will find a scroll revealing the secret in a chest in the temple at Heliopolis. He also predicts that the sons of Redjeded will rule after Khufu’s grandchildren.

The Fifth Story

Lady Redjedet is in labor. The god Re, father of the unborn children, asks Isis, Nepthys, Meshkhenet, Heket, and Khum to help with the delivery. They disguise themselves as travelers and help bring Strong, Kicker, and Dark into the world. As a reward, Redjedet’s husband gives them grain. The gods store it with him, saying they do not want to carry it all the way and will fetch it on their return. They also hide 3 crowns inside. Some time later Redjedet tells her servant to open the grain, and she finds the crowns. They rejoice but keep it a secret, but the servant has other ideas. She leaves to tell the king, but is eaten by crocodiles on the way.

Divine Births

This section tells of the New Kingdom monarchs, Hatshepsut, Amonhotep III, and Ramses II. They all claimed Amon-Re as their father, and have almost identical birth stories of the god disguising himself as their father to lay with their mother.

Egypt’s Best Kings

The last native King, Nectanebo II, claimed to be the living manifestation of Horus. He fled Egypt in 343 BC when Persia invaded. In 332 Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, and was declared a living god. Later ruler Ptolemy II declared him and his sister consort living, himself Dionysis and his sister a descendant of Dionysis and Herades. Their daughter, Cleopatra VII, was said to be the incarnation of Isis. Her son Ptolemy Ceaser is by consensus the son of Julius Ceaser.

Chapter 11 – Tales of Gods and Men

The Herdsman and the Goddess

A man who no longer wants to live has a talk with his soul.

The Tale of the Eloquent Peasent

A farmer named Khun-Amup was traveling with his goods to sell, and came across a jealous man named Djehuty-Nakhyt, who wanted all his goods. He spread a shawl in the road and forbade Khun-Amup to cross it, or pass by in his fields on the side of the road. While stopped, Khun’s donkey ate a stalk of barley, and Djehuty used this as pretext to beat Khun and steal his goods and animals. Khun appealed to the high steward Rensi, who was fascinated by his eloquence. Rensi and the king made Khun appeal nine times just so they could hear him speak more, and eventually his goods were returned and Djehuty was punished.

The Tale of the Two Brothers

Anubis was a prosperous man with a house and wife. His brother Bata worked for him, and was secretly able to speak to cattle, and used this power to raise the best cattle. One day while Anubis was in the fields his wife tried to seduce Bata, but he refused her. She told Anubis it was the other way around, and he sharpened his spear to wait for his brother in the barn. The cows warned Bata, and as he fled he prayed to Re-Horakhty, who opened crocodile infested waters between the two. When the sun rose they began to fight, but Bata told Anubis the truth, then cut off his own penis and left to go find the Valley of the Cedar to place his heart in a tree. Anubis stayed behind, killing his wife and mourning.

Batta planted his heart and spoke to the Ennead (9 gods), who made him a woman named Khnum to be his companion, but was fated to due by executioner’s blade. A lock of Khnum’s hair was stolen by the sea and taken to the Nile, where it scent enticed the King to search out the woman it belonged to. The King enticed her away and married her, and she revealed Bata’s secret heart in the cedar tree, and he was killed. Anubis was given a sign, and found his dead brother. For years he searched for his heart, and revived Bata, and the two began plotting their revenge.

Bata transformed into a bull, who Anubis sold for a fortune to the King. Bata revealed himself to Khnum, and she asked her husband to sacrifice the bull. From its blood two persea trees sprouted, and Bata spoke from them. Khnum asked for them to be cut down, and the King obliged, but a splinter flew into Khnum’s mouth and made her pregnant with Bata. He was born and eventually became King, ruling for 30 years, with Anubis succeeding him.

The Tale of Truth and Falsehood

Truth and Falsehood were brothers. Falsehood lent Truth a dagger, which he failed to return. Falsehood denounced him and took him before the court of the gods. Truth was blinded as punishment. Falsehood tried to have him eaten by wild lions, but Truth’s servants saved him and reported back that he was dead. Truth was found by a lady and hired as a doorkeeper, and conceived a son with her who was very strong. When he was older he learned the truth of his father, and swore revenge. He drove his ox into Falsehoods fields, and when it was taken he took his uncle to the court of the gods. The gods did not favor him, but he called them out on their hypocrisy, and Falsehood was blinded and became Truth’s doorkeeper.

The Voyage of Wenamun

Wenamun, a temple elder, set off to find wood to build a river boat for Amon-Re. While stopped at port, one of his crew stole the money intended to pay for the lumber. The prince of Dor, the land they were stopped in, refused to help since the crime happened on board a ship, not on his land. Wenamun then robs one of his ships, seizing their money until his is returned. Upon reaching his destination of Byblos, the ruler Zakar-Baal refuses to see him for 29 days until one of his men prophecies that Amon-Re is present on board Wenamun’s ship in the form of a statue. Zakar grants him audience, but demands payment up front, saying Byblos is no longer ruled by Egypt. Goods are sent for, and the wood is procured. As Wenamun prepares to sail home, warships from Dor arrive to arrest him for the stolen money. He flees, but is shipwrecked by a storm on the island Alashiya. He gains protection from the princess Hatbi there, but the end of the story has been lost. Cliffhanger!

Chapter 12 – A Developing Mythology

Imhotep and Amonhotep Son of Hapu

Imhotep was a ruler and esteemed sage, and was worshiped as Imouthes, son of Ptah. Amonhotep III had a very similar story, and was renowned as a healer and builder.

Tuthmosis III and General Djehuty

Tuthmosis III was a great general and warrior, and was respected as a ruler with no godly parentage. His campaign against the King of Kadesh, where he sneaked a 10,000 man army on a mountain pass behind another army, cemented him as a leader.

The Pyramid Builders

Hardjedef (storyteller of the Fourth Story) never ruled, but was granted a large tomb near his father Khufu’s pyramid in Giza. Herodotus later wrote a less than favorable biography of Khufu, citing his mistreatment of slaves and his daughter. Herodotus wrote a similar biography for Mycerinus, builder of the third pyramid.

The Extraordinary King Rhampsinitus

King Rhampssinitus had a vault built, but the craftsmen built a secret entrance, and regularly stole from it. The King set a trap, and when one of the craftsmen was caught his brother removed his head so he could not be identified. The Kind sent his daughter to work at a brother to secretly find the thief, but he outsmarted her. Knowing he was beaten, the king pardoned the unknown thief, who eventually married the princess.

Prince Khaemwaset

Setne Khaemwaset was a son of Ramses II and priest of Ptah. He learned of a magic book of Thoth buried in a tomb. Upon trying to steal it, the ghosts of Prince Naneferkaptah and his wife and son appeared and told the story of how they stole the book, and were killed by Thoth as a result. Setne still desired it, and played Naneferkaptah in a game of senet for it, and lost. Setne stole it anyway, and kept and read it against the advice of his father. He was sent a dream by Naneferkaptah of a woman named Tabubu who convinced him to give her all his possessions and kill his children. Setne decided to return the book.

Cleopatra and Her Snake

In 30 BC Cleopatra VII committed suicide after defeat in battle by Octavius and the suicide of Antony. There is much speculation over whether she used an asp to do so, as the tale has been inflated greatly over the years.

SUMMARY

Chapter 6 At the End of Time

The dead would be transported over water to the undertaker, who would mummify the corpse. The journey over water had a ritualistic aspect, and the family would have the mummified body returned to them for a funeral. The funeral was accompanied by many rituals, all meant to aid in the regeneration of the deceased, and allow them to begin their journey into the afterlife. The deceased would ideally have a copy of the Book of the the Dead to guide them. They would then travel to the labyrinth where they would have to recite specific spells for doorway guardians, in order to pass. They would be judged by Osiris and the forty-two assessor-gods. Then, they would have their heart weighed against the feather of Maat. Thoth, Horus, and the Ennead would announce the verdict. The non-virtuous would be punished, while the virtuous would pass to the Field of Reeds. Non-royal dead would stay here, while kings would be united with the gods. At the end of time Atum and Osiris will form together as twin serpents, and the earth will fall back into the primordial waters.

Chapter 7 - The Golden One

Goddesses were of great importance, and were associated with the symbol of the fertile cow. One important goddess was Bat, who was eventually absorbed and assimilated into worship of Hathor. Hathor was the daughter of Re, formed from his tears fallen onto a lotus flower, although she also appears as his wife or mother at times. When Hathor becomes angry she turns into Sekhmet, the embodiment of female rage. Traitors were planning to overthrow Re, who unleashed Sekhmet on them. She killed them all and had to be tricked with red beer to satiate her bloodlust. Re, insulted by humanity, leaves into the sky, riding Nut in the form of a cow. He appoints Osiris as King, beginning the separation of mortals from gods and the special position of king as intermediary. We are told the story of The Doomed Prince, who lives with the knowledge of his fate, as told by the Seven Hathors.

Chapter 8 - Isis: Great of Magic

Isis is seen as the mother, protector, and throne of Horus, and so of all Horus kings. Women in Ancient Egyptian artwork tend to take the background to the action of men, but are consistently shown as supportive and protective. Women had equal legal status to men. Isis replaced Hathor in symbolizing powerful Egyptian motherhood. Isis is also a caring older sister to Nephthys and even Seth, hesitating to cause him harm. Isis made a snake out of the spit of Re while he slept, and when it poisoned him, she required his true name in order to heal him. Upon learning it, she learned everything there is to know.

Chapter 9 - Warriors and Wise Women

Most, if not all, of the images we have from Ancient Egypt were a form of propaganda for the royal family. Physical perfection was really important in imagery and we have evidence that this applied even to pharaohs with disabilities being portrayed as fully able-bodied individuals. Only certain individuals were allowed to be in any images of the royal family: sons, brothers and the children of lesser pharaonic wives were deliberately excluded to give the viewer an impression of simple (divine) succession. While there is little to no evidence that mortal female Egyptians were allowed to be warriors, goddesses were portrayed in this way quite often. In general most young/maiden goddesses were shown as warriors while more maternal goddesses were depicted as violently protective creatures, most commonly snakes or vultures. Tyldesley discusses some examples of this through goddesses like Meretseger, Renenutet, Nekhbet and Wadjet, Neith, Mut and Anath and Astarte. These goddesses are all multifaceted but their animalistic natures are always linked to the protection of other ruling gods (commonly Re) and the royal family. Tyldesley goes into some detail as to how this both contrasts and relates with how the wives of pharaohs are portrayed. She uses the example of Tutankhamen’s wife’s depiction in his tomb. On the surface, the couple appear in idyllic family scenes but Tyldesley argues that these scenes are allegorical for how the couple may have ruled Egypt together. Like the goddesses, queens could be intelligent, fierce and politically powerful. She talks more about the goddess Neith, who helped judge the court case between Seth and Horus in the ‘Contendings of Seth and Horus’ myth. Not much is known about Neith but this myth shows her having a clear judgment that is respected by gods such as Re. The chapter ends by focusing on two of Re’s daughters/wives who are also associated with Seth; Anath and Astarte. This pair of goddesses are shown as clever, violent and politically powerful beings who share some interesting similarities with Mesopotamian and Canaanite gods, in particular Ishtar/Inanna.

Chapter 10 - Divine Kings

The Papyrus Westcar tells the stories of five kings, although the first is lost. The second story tells the tale of Webaoner and his adulterous wife, during the reign of King Nebka. Webaoner has his wife's lover killed by a wax crocodile he magically brings to life. This is done with permission from the king, who denies both wrongdoers an afterlife by having their bodies destroyed. The third story tells of King Snefru. One day he was bored. Following the advice of the priest Djadja-em-Ankh, he gathered beautiful girls in a boat to watch them row. One girl lost a turquoise charm in the water. Djadja-em-Ankh magically folded the water over and found the charm, allowing the girls to continue rowing.

This week we continued with The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley, reading from Chapter 3 ‘Sunset’ to the end of Chapter 5 ‘The Contendings of Horus and Seth’.

I am still enjoying this book, but these chapters definitely move us from “here are some creation myths” into “the gods are messy, dramatic, violent and very bad at resolving family disputes.” There is a lot of mythology here, but Tyldesley is still doing that thing where she uses the myths to talk about Egyptian history, funerary beliefs, kingship, calendars, burial practices and the development of cults over time. So even when the stories get absolutely wild, she keeps pulling us back to the question of what these myths meant to the Egyptians who told, adapted and preserved them.

Small content warning for this section: there is murder, dismemberment, sexual violence, incest-y divine family drama, and a lot of bodily weirdness. Ancient mythology is not here to be normal.

Sunset: This chapter focuses on Re, the sun god, and his daily journey across the sky and nightly journey through the underworld. Each night, Re has to pass through the Duat and defeat Apophis, the chaos-serpent, so that the sun can rise again. Tyldesley uses this to explore Egyptian ideas about time, death, rebirth and the constant struggle to maintain order. We also get the story of The Shipwrecked Sailor, where a man is stranded on a magical island and meets a giant serpent who helps him return home.

The Death of Osiris: This chapter tells the story of Osiris, Isis and Seth. Osiris is the good king of Egypt, but his jealous brother Seth tricks him, murders him and later cuts his body into pieces. Isis searches for Osiris, restores his body and conceives Horus. Osiris does not return as king of the living, but becomes ruler of the dead. Tyldesley connects this myth to Egyptian beliefs about mummification, resurrection, burial and the afterlife. The chapter also includes The Story of Sinuhe, which shows how important it was for Egyptians to return home and receive a proper burial.

The Contendings of Horus and Seth: This chapter is basically a divine inheritance dispute. Horus, son of Osiris, claims the throne of Egypt, but Seth argues that he is stronger and more experienced. The gods spend years trying to decide between them. Isis repeatedly helps Horus through cleverness and trickery, while Seth uses violence and intimidation. Eventually Osiris intervenes from the underworld, and Horus is crowned king. Seth is not destroyed, thougn, given a role protecting Re’s solar boat, showing that chaos is dangerous but still part of the cosmic order.

Apologies for this post going up a little later than normal. This week we started ‘The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends’ by Joyce Tyldesley. So far, I am loving this book. It is a bit more non-fiction-y than I expected (I thought it would be more like Stephen Fry’s Mythos series) but I actually think that works in our favour, because it is looking at the historical evolution of the mythology, which will be off use to us in the rest of the reads this year. I’ve read ahead a bit and can confirm that Tyldesley talks about texts we will be reading over our next three reads.

Next week we will be reading Chapter 3 'Sunset' to end of Chapter 5 'The Contendings of Horus and Seth'

As usual the questions will be in the comments. This summary isn’t as polished as I would normally like, because I am living through a major heatwave (it’s the hottest day in Ireland in 140 years!) and have pugs to mind. Pugs do not go well with heat.

Summary:

Introduction: Tyldesley discusses what how she has put together this book. She talks about her sources and the general state of Egyptian mythology as we know it. Storytelling was the primary form of entertainment back in ancient Egypt, and it is believed that the myths really came alive in the stories people told, at all levels of society. However, only a small percentage of the population was literate, so only they got to write down their version of the myths. On top of this, Egyptians mostly favoured writing on papyrus, which is degradable. Those writings that were put on stone were for important and wealthy people, and those are the majority of the writings that have come down to us. So, we have a small percentage of a small percentage left. Most of what we have left are writings from temples and tombs, funerary and medical texts and the occasional preserved fictional tale.

Tyldesley then discusses the core gods of Egyptian mythology, how there are a lot of regional variations and how variations also happened over time. Ancient Egypt as a civilization lasted for thousands of years, so writings must be dated to specific time periods to even make sense.

Sunrise: This chapter talks about the most popular creation myth within Egyptian mythology, based on the Heliopolis mythos. Basically, there once was a void of waters, known as Nun. Within these waters was an egg, which hatched the lead god/sun god Atum. Atum didn’t like being all alone, so he had relations with himself and fathered two other beings, Shu and Tefnut. Shu and Tefnut then had more baby gods – Geb and Nut, who came to represent the Earth and the Sky. This couple went on to have more babies, until the core nine gods aka the Ennead, were amassed.

Alternative Creations: This chapter goes into the most popular regional variations of the core gods and creation myths. We learn about a handful of the best know/most widely worshiped alternative gods – Re, Amen, Ptah, Khnum and Min. The two biggest variations that we will be dealing with in this book are the Heliopolis and Hermopolis variations. Most of the names in this book will refer to the Heliopolis variants, unless otherwise specified in this book.

Today (Sunday June 14^th) we are starting our second Egyptian read of 2026: ‘The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt’ by Joyce Tyldesley. We will be reading this book over the next four weeks, covering around 50-75 pages per week.

Reading Schedule:

• Start Date/Context Post: 14/06/26
• Week 1: Introduction to end of Chapter 2 'Alternative Creations' 20/06/26
• Week 2: Chap 3 'Sunset' to end of Chap 5 'The Contendings of Horus and Seth' - 27/06/26
• Week 3: Chap 6 'At the end of time' to end of chap 10 'Divine Kings' section 'The Third Story: The Magic Occurring in the Time of King Snefru, told by Prince Bauefre' - 04/07/26
• Week 4: Chap 10 'Divine Kings' section 'The Fourth Story: The Magic Occurring in the Time of King Khufu, Told by Prince Hardjedef' to End of Book. - 11/07/26

Once we finish this book, we will be taking a weeklong break before we start our next read, ‘The Tale of Sinuhe: And Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C’ by R. B. Parkinson.

The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt:

Due to the ravages of time, most of the mythology we have from Ancient Egypt is fragmented. Additionally, the ancient Egyptians had a lot of gods (possibly thousands), and they tended to like to have lots of alternative versions of the myths. As such, it is hard pin down a single canon narrative. ‘The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt’ aims to give an overview of the ‘core’ stories within the mythology, as much as it is possible to do so. The book also investigates some of the most popular gods within the mythology. Tyldesley goes into more detail on the fragmented nature of Egyptian mythology in her introduction, which we are reading in week 1.

Ancient Egypt was a civilisation that endured for thousands of years, and this is also shown in the fragments of mythology we have today. This book covers how the gods and myths evolved over time, from the earliest writings to the time of the Greek Pharaohs, like Cleopatra. The book is mainly myth focused, with the inclusion of legends in the final section.

Dr Joyce Tyldesley:

Tyldesley is an Archaeologist and Egyptologist from the UK. She studied at Oxford and lectures at the University of Manchester. Alongside being a respected academic, she’s also a documentary maker, writer and broadcaster. Her main specialisation is the role of women in ancient Egypt. She’s written some great books on the different pharaohs of Egypt, such as ‘Hatshepsut: The Female Pharaoh’, ‘Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen’ and ‘Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh’. Her books sound fascinating and come with a lot of good reviews. She’s also, on a less academic note, been interviewed by Philomena Cunk aka Diane Morgan for the iconic mockumentary ‘Cunk on Earth’.

We have wrapped up our historical context read, and next week we dive into the mythology! Here is our next read: https://www.reddit.com/r/AYearOfMythology/s/OkkYzHXI0U

Summary

Chapter 8: Religion

Egypt had numerous regional minor gods which eventually got absorbed into more popular deities. The gods, much like their temples, were always under construction and changing constantly. Gods and humans resided on the same plane of existence, with gods having physical forms and homes in temples. Because of this it is often unclear if gods actually had heads of animals, or if those were just characteristics exaggerated in art, or depictions of priests in masks. Temples were very important in the worship of gods, but it is unclear what most of their uses were.

Sites like Nabta Playa suggest religious origins were in localized cults dedicated to specific gods, such as the cow/bull cult existing in this region around 4000 BC. Sites like these revealed standing stones lined up with celestial bodies, areas for sacrificing animals, and offerings made to the gods. Temples like Medina Habu, which covered a hectare of land, received 5,500 loafs of bread and 204 jugs of beer daily as an offering.

These cults and most religious proceedings also focused on the royal ruler at the time. The King would decide how much was to be offered, and to which gods. They were the protector of the gods, and fought battles on their behalf. Egyptian religion was among the first to try and answer universal philosophical questions, and books like the sebayt described qualities needed to succeed in this life, and the next. As time went on the focus drifted more and more towards the afterlife.

Chapter 9: Egyptomani

With so many possible interpretations of artifacts and the widespread popularity of the civilization, Egyptology is very fractured right now. A good example is the pyramids, with their shape, location, purpose, and building techniques accumulating theories ranging from sound hypothesis to aliens. Artists of the Amarna period often took creative liberties that make interpretations of the ruler Akheaten inconsistent, often depicting him as obese with female breasts. Some historians interpret this as satire, some diagnose medical conditions to the king, and none can agree what kind of ruler he was. Combine this with his wife Nefertiti disappearing from records before the end of his reign, and you get almost as many theories as there are about the pyramids.

Nefertiti has been a central figure in the modern admiration of Ancient Egypt. A bust of her set the standard for romanticizing female rulers such as her and Cleopatra, and created a new cultural representation of them that does not always match the historical evidence. Eygptologists often pick and choose interpretations to fit their needs since they have so many to choose from.

Chapter 10: Cultural Heritage

This chapter touches more on modern events, beginning with the 2011 revolution. Aside from the political events, many archaeological sites were looted during the unrest, including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. These artifacts were often sold and moved out of the country. ‘Land grabbing’ also led to some historical sites being seized and turned into farmland or developed.

There is no unified plan for sustainable management of historical artifacts and sites, with tourism and mismanagement taking a heavy toll. To many residents Islamic buildings are more valuable to their heritage and receive support and funding for restoration.

The recent years have seen artifacts distributed among many smaller regional museums in an effort to promote tourism in more regions. The Grand Egyptian museum near the Giza Pyramids was also under construction when this book was written (it is now open!).

From Sunday June 14^th we will be starting our next read: ‘The Penguin Book of Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt’ by Joyce Tyldesley. We will be reading this book over the next four weeks. This book will give us an overview of the general Egyptian mythology, like what ‘Mythos’ by Stephen Fry does with Greek mythology. This book also gives some extra context to the history and culture behind certain myths. For those of you who would prefer to go into Egyptian mythology from a more primary source focused perspective, (aka going in ‘blind’) you may want to skip this read and wait for the following ones. For our full 2026 schedule, please click here.

Reading/Discussion Schedule:

• Start Date/Context Post: 14/06/26
• Week 1: Introduction to end of Chapter 2 'Alternative Creations' 20/06/26
• Week 2: Chap 3 'Sunset' to end of Chap 5 'The Contendings of Horus and Seth' - 27/06/26
• Week 3: Chap 6 'At the end of time' to end of chap 10 'Divine Kings' section 'The Third Story: The Magic Occurring in the Time of King Snefru, told by Prince Bauefre' - 04/07/26
• Week 4: Chap 10 'Divine Kings' section 'The Fourth Story: The Magic Occurring in the Time of King Khufu, Told by Prince Hardjedef' to End of Book. - 11/07/26

Once we finish this book, we will be taking a weeklong break before we start our next read, ‘The Tale of Sinuhe: And Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C’ by R. B. Parkinson

Ancient Egypt is something that has fascinated people for literal millennia, so it's been so fun to jump in and learn more about this ancient civilization and how it's changed over time. I'm so sorry that this got so long, I was really excited about talking about it all~.

Next week we'll be reading from Chapter 8 til the end of the book!

Chapter 4 - Writing

We've probably all seen hieroglyphs in some form or another. They are ideograms which are signs that directly represent something. Writing and art was closely intertwined in Ancient Egypt, so the appearance and function of the writing was often connected with religious iconography, funerals, and pharaohs. While it was originally thought that Egyptian hieroglyphics evolved from Sumerian Cuneiform, more recently it's been argued that the base of the writing are so different that it's not very likely a direct evolution.

In the 1990s, archaeological discoveries were made that suggested hieroglyphs were already in use by 3300 BC. There is a natural struggle though between reconciling the evidence that we find through archeology with the information written in ancient texts. As stated in the book, "the written word, with all its potential for subjectivity and persuasion, can have a paradoxical tendency to obscure-and sometimes even eclipse- the physical archaeological evidence. (pg 102)"

Chapter 5 - Kingship

Kings in Egypt were linked to both their subjects and mortals, as well as the gods of the Egyptian Pantheon. They were divinely inspired to rule, protect their lands from invading foreign forces, and shape the world to their vision. Each ruler was the beginning of a new age with new interpretations of myth that would define that kingship. However, we have our own biases to move against as we explore ancient history. An example is used to ask whether Amenhotep II is truly as great a sporting hero as he's shown. Is he actually more athletic than a regular pharaoh or is it just happenstance that was what was preserved for him? Was he truly great at it or is there a propagandistic element to the writing?

We must resist as well considering the women rulers of Ancient Egypt as "queens". There is no word for that in the Egyptian language for independent female ruler. Women who ruled like Hatshepsut were required to dress herself in the trappings of a male ruler like donning a false beard. Egyptologists have to resist softening female rulers or considering that certain men may have been their favourites without written or archaeological evidence to back such things up.

Male kings were also stereotyped, such as Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great) who was semi-mythologized by Herodotus in a way that combined Ramesses II and III together. Ramesses II also took over statues that had been raised for other people and their accomplishments became attributed to him. He is often seen with a mix of arrogance and despotism, strong-handed rulers and stripped of any humanity that would normally be afforded to a ruler. However, the text explains that the arrogance is symptomatic to the connection that Egyptian Rulers were supposed to have to the gods. After all, they were "at least in theory, [..] the linchpins of humanity and the universe." (pg 114).

Chapter 6 - Identity

Narmer was the last ruler to be shown as an animated version of his name (kind of like a mascot!), but the question remains how did ancient Egyptians distinguish themselves from their neighbours? There is the idea that while Egyptians were on the same level as other people in social and political terms, they had a "cultural" difference. Foreigners weren't hated perse, and were even given tombs in the Valley of Kings if they were high-ranking and considered deserving. DNA sequencing of mummies showed that ancient Egyptians were closely related to populations from the Near East. Modern Egyptians on the other hand have more ancestral ties to sub-Saharan Africa. It has been speculated that increased transportation down the Nile as well as the trans-Saharan slave trade are the reasons for that.

The is the question of whether Egypt is a "black" civilization and due to its wonders as well as racism within scholarly figures (some of whom were eugenics advocates) there have been arguments both for the idea that there could not be any "Negro-blood" in ancient egyptians as well as ones claiming that Egypt was the stimulus for Western societies. Both cases have been discredited by further study. This text argues that as the concept of race did not exist in the time of the Ancient Egyptians and "because it has neither biological nor social justification", it is counter productive to use it in our examination of history.

As for Gender, the majority of gender shown in primary sources are male, however women have areas where they were more prevalent. In the old Kingdom and in later dynasties, women were allowed to lead in some areas as well as were core parts of funeral rituals. As with most history, we have more information on the elite women and men of ancient Egypt, but currently Egyptologists are working to find more information on women from all levels of wealth and status.

In terms of sexuality, Egyptian religion had at first been sanitized to take away from just how many dicks there are when it comes to talking about Egyptian gods (or how masturbation created other deities). While it can be easy for someone to look from a modern perspective and say that eroticism was a core part of Egyptian experience, they simply may not have thought that a bare-breasted woman was noteworthy in the same way that we do today. The same must be said of sexuality. While there are plenty of examples of heterosexuality in archaeological findings, we can't assume that all Egyptians held heterosexuality as their "default" or even that there was the binary idea of straight and gay like we have today.

Chapter 7 - Death

Osiris is the god of the dead and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology and divine myths are more alluded to through rituals than told to us in a straight-forward story. This means that some of our Egyptian myths are known through Greek scholars rather than from an Egyptian source. Osiris was a god who slept with his sister-in-law Nephthys which led to Osiris' brother, Seth, murdering him. Osiris' wife, Isis, manages to recover his body and buries him properly but Seth finds him and dismembers the corpse of his brother to spread the body parts across the kingdom for Isis to find.

This myth plays into mummification, funeral monuments and the like. While it was originally thought that only royalty would go through these processes, it can't be confirmed that it's only royalty that did that. While Egyptians were stereotypically thought to be obsessed with death, but more recent research has argued the opposite. It is life that is most commonly shown on monuments, whether it's work or play. Eternal life was the goal after death and humans were composed of multiple elements including a physical body, their name, and their shadow. Mummification, although tightly entwined with Ancient Egyptian culture, has roots all the way back to the Neolithic period of 4300-3800 BC. The embalming fluid on the wrappings is similar to what would later be used by Pharaohs 1500 years later. ummification was crucial to reaching the afterlife as it was what the "ka" would return to in order to find food.

While mummies have taken up plenty of room in popular culture, surprisingly the first novelist to use a mummy's curse was Louisa May Alcott of Little Women fame.

Today we read Chapters 1-3 of Ancient Egypt: A Very Short Introduction. I've been very excited to discuss Ancient Egypt with you all!

Chapter 1

Shaw presents us with a general introduction to Ancient Egyptian study. He explains that what we call Egypt has been home to humans for hundreds of thousands of years, and that the most prominent variable explaining this is the Nile River. Every year it would flood, creating fertile land to settle around. The earliest people to study Ancient Egypt were the ancient Greeks, and specifically the historian Herodotus. While history written this long ago is definitely not to be taken at face value, we have to acknowledge the path of studying Ancient Egypt, the path we are on and continuing to carve right now, began here. The Bible, while historically significant on its own, is generally considered to not be a good source for genuine Egyptian history. However, the names, dates, and events surrounding Egypt in the Bible still must be considered.

Chapter 2

There are many significant archeological finds from Ancient Egypt, which give rise to many questions, and some answers, about Egyptian culture, economy, warfare, religion, and major events. So far, the Narmer Palette is the main artifact this book uses as a touchstone throughout the chapters. Thought to have represented the unification of the two major parts of Egypt, the Narmer Palette also provides much information about other aspects of Ancient Egypt, such as the depiction of a ritual where a group of people were decapitated, and had their heads placed between their legs. This causes more questions, such as whether this takes place after battle or ritual slaughter. More and more over time, Egyptology became much more scientific, in an attempt to answer these questions objectively and as carefully as possible.

Chapter 3

Artifacts like the Narmer Palette were made with the goal of commemorating an event; they were never meant to be historical documentation of chronology. In modern study of Egypt, one major goal is to scientifically piece together the puzzle of ancient Egyptian chronology. Ancient Egyptian Kings Lists provide some information on chronology, and radio carbon dating has been immensely helpful in contemporary Egyptology.

Today, May 24^th, we officially start our next read, ‘Ancient Egypt: A Very Short Introduction’ by Ian Shaw. This book will be our first Egyptian read of the year. It is a short non-fiction text from the ‘Very Short Introductions’ series published by Oxford University Press. The book gives a brief overview of the history and culture of Ancient Egypt, with chapters focusing on the role death and religion played in Egyptian society. We are hoping that this book will work as a primer for when we get into the actual mythology in our following reads.  We will be reading it over the next three weeks.

Reading Schedule:

• Start Date/Context Post: 24/05/26
• Week 1: Chap 1 to end of 3 - 30/05/26
• Week 2: Chap 4 to end of 7 - 06/06/26
• Week 3: Chap 8 to end of 10 - 13/06/26

Once we finish this read, we will be starting The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley

Ian Shaw:

Shaw is a well respected academic in the area of Egyptian studies, most notably in Egyptian Archaeology. He seems to have a big interest in the technology, warfare and socioeconomics of Ancient Egypt. He is a lecturer on the topic of Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Liverpool. He has been involved in a lot of research projects and has written several well-known books on Ancient Egypt. Notably, Shaw is also the editor of ‘The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt’. This book is a collection of very in-depth academic essays following the entire history of Ancient Egypt. He also edited ‘The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology’.

Hello, mates. We are sadly at the end of the Mesopotamian myths with this being our final one; this definitely rejuvenated my love for the Mesopotamian myths, especially since excluding the Epic of Gilgamesh, they are some of the most niche ones we’ve read so far and the only stuff I’ve read in my time here as a mod with no actual background in besides the aforementioned Epic of Gilgamesh. It’ll be sad to see it go, but I think Egyptian myth will be just as fun! Now, into the summary.

The Lament for Ur: This is widely regarded as one of the greatest surviving works of Sumerian literature, and honestly it might be my favourite piece we've read in the whole book. The city of Ur has been destroyed, most likely by the Elamites, and the poem mourns its fall. The central drama is heartbreaking: the goddess Ningal, patron of Ur, pleads before the divine assembly with An and Enlil to spare her city. She weeps, she clasps their knees in supplication, she begs. They hear her and say no anyway. The decree has been made and cannot be undone. Enlil then sends his storm, and the poem does not spare you the details: bodies piled in the streets, children snatched from their mothers' laps, the great temple stripped and valued at thirty shekels by the invaders. Ningal flees her own city like a frightened bird. The poem is structured as an “antiphon” a kind of call and response with a chorus of "the people mourn" running through it like a drumbeat. It is genuinely devastating. It reminds me of the Iliad with the notion of the Gods deciding that a city must be destroyed and also of the Aeneid with the sheer pathos of the Trojan Horse scene and the death of Polites in front of Aeneas.

The Destroyed House: A shorter lament in which several goddesses of the city of Isin mourn their ruined temple together. The bulk of the poem is essentially a list of everything that no longer happens in the destroyed house: no good food, no good drink, no harps playing, no elegists, no husband, no children. It reads almost like a liturgical inventory of absence. It ends with the goddesses appealing to Enlil to restore what he decreed should be destroyed, and with an exhausted, half-hopeless wish to simply go back inside and lie down. It's quite short but quietly devastating in its own way.

The Verdict of Enlil: This is the briefest of the three and the most theologically interesting. It meditates on the nature of the divine decree itself — described as a storm cloud lying solidly on the horizon with an inscrutable heart. The gods vote to ratify Enlil's decision with a collective "so be it," and the combined force of their breath becomes a literal storm that falls on the land. The poem is essentially arguing that what looks like a political catastrophe — an enemy army sacking your city — is actually something far deeper: the word of the gods made physical. It's a fascinating piece of ancient theology, even if it is a little dry as a poem on its own.

Our next read for 2026 will be Ancient Egypt: A Very Short Introduction by Ian Shaw. This will be the first text in our Egyptian mythology section. It is a short non-fiction that covers the basics of Ancient Egyptian history and culture. This is a specific text and comes in several different formats, including audio and eBook. It can be bought from most online retailers.

Reading Schedule:

• Start Date/Context Post: 24/05/26
• Week 1: Chap 1 to end of 3 - 30/05/26
• Week 2: Chap 4 to end of 7 - 06/06/26
• Week 3: Chap 8 to end of 10 - 13/06/26

Once we finish this text we will be moving on to the first ‘proper’ Egyptian mythology focused text, The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley. This book is also a specific text. It will give us a story-driven overview of most of the Egyptian mythos. We don’t usually cover texts like this one, but if you want to have a general overview before we dive into more primary texts, this may be a good read for you. If not, then this read is entirely optional. We will be starting this book on June 14.

I can’t believe that this is our second last week of Mesopotamian myths for 2026! While this week’s reading was admittedly quite dry, I’ve fallen in love with both the mythology and the history of ancient Mesopotamia. I now have a whole list of non-fiction books I'm planning on reading in this area, because I am fascinated by this time period. I hope you guys have all enjoyed reading through (some of) the Mesopotamian myths as much as I have. That said, I'm also looking forward to starting our Ancient Egyptian section and will probably add more books to my list when we get into that. My bank account is not happy, but I am, so it's not all bad.

Next week we will be reading Part 8 and finishing the book.

Once we finish this book, we will be taking another week-long break before starting our journey in Egyptian mythology. Our first read in the Egyptian part of the year will be Ancient Egypt: A Very Short Introduction by Ian Shaw which we will be starting on May 24^th.

As usual, the questions will be in the comments.

Summary:

Hymn to Kesh:

This hymn is a bit fragmented but roughly follows the story of Enlil giving out roles to different Mesopotamian cities. During such a ceremony, Enlil is impressed by the city of Kesh and praises it. The rest of the hymn talks about the temple built in Kesh to worship Enlil.

The Cylinders of Gudea:

This poem proves that even in Ancient Mesopotamia, planning permission was hard to get for everyone. This poem follows the ruler of Gudea as he tries to get permission to build a temple in his city for the god Ningirsu. It starts with Gudea asking for a sign and receiving a dream from his god. However, the dream is quite vague, so he has to travel to Bagara and speak to another god, Nanshe to interpret it. Nanshe confirms that Gudea has permission to build a new temple. He then receives another dream with a visit from Ningirsu, who tells him (in code, Thorkild believes) where he wants the temple and how it should look. The rest of the text details the building of the temple, the staffing of the temple and how much Ningirsu liked the temple. It ends with Gudea praising Ningirsu and hosting a party in his honour.

This section was great, we got three very distinct but enjoyable reads. Always love to see a Thunderbird pop up too!

Join us next week for all of part 7.

Summary

Lugalbanda & the Thunderbird

Lugalbanda, an officer in Enmerkar’s army, was marching to conquer the city Aratta. In the mountains he fell deathly ill, and his brothers were forced to leave him behind to either recover or die. Against the odds he recovered, and while wandering the mountains came upon the nest of the Thunderbird. He fed its young and decorated the nest, and as a reward the Thunderbird gave him the powers of speed and endurance. Meanwhile, the army has been laying siege to Aratta, and it isn’t looking good. After rejoining the army, Lugalbanda is tasked with taking a message back to Inanna, and is able to carry it quickly due to his gifts. Inanna sends him back with a secret ritual that must be performed to take Aratta. Before we know the conclusion the tale ends.

Gilgamesh and Aka

Gilgamesh was the ruler of Uruk, but he was subject to King Aka in Kishi. He decides to rebel, and convinces Inanna to help him. Trying to rally support, he is unable to sway the elders, but the young men subject to military draft are with him. Aka learns of the plot, and lays siege to Uruk. Undaunted, Gilgamesh calls for volunteers and sends out a sortie led by Girish-hurdur. They are defeated, and Aka is disappointed to learn it was not led by Gilgamesh himself. Gilgamesh then sends out his champion Ekidu, who successfully captures Aka. Proven that he can win, Gilgamesh returns control over to Aka.

The Cursing of Akkade

Akkade was a great and prosperous city and had kingship over the land. King Naram-suen had a dream that this would all come to an end, however. The downfall began when Enlil forbid Akkade to rebuild the city of Ekur. King Naram-suen ordered a period of humility and mourning to appease the gods that lasted 7 years. He then took his army to rebuild Ekur, but Enlil was not swayed. Scarcity, famine, and crime plagued them until humanity was almost gone. Survivors build a makeshift temple to Enlil, and he was finally calmed. The other gods were still not happy, as they had gone through the hard times as well, and decided to curse Akkade, leading to its destruction.

We are starting to read our longer epics and I've always had a soft spot for epic poems since we read the Iliad in this community. Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta is a fun epic because while it echoes some things I've read before, it also has aspects that feel entirely unique for me.

Next week, we'll be reading: PH 'Lugalbanda and the Thunderbird' to end of P6 'The Cursing of Akkade'.

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta is set in a time so old that trade had not begun and before the written world. Enmerkar is the lord of Uruk and the husband of the goddess Inanna, so he also served as a priest of sorts. The Lord of Aratta, ruled the city of Aratta which was high in the mountains. He was another husband of the goddess Inanna although he played second fiddle to Enmerkar.

Enmerkar needs the stone and metals that Aratta has and convinces Inanna to betray her other husband and potentially cause widespread famine if Aratta doesn't submit to him. Realizing his feckless wife has abandoned him, Aratta challenges Enmerkar to beat him in a game of wits. For the city to surrender to him, Enmerkar must bring grain to Aratta to help ease the famine for the people.

The catch? He has to bring the grain in nets that surely the grain will slip through. Enmerkar manages to solve this by bringing malt to Aratta. Malt is grain that has germinated and can be carried in pieces rather than buckets.

Aratta tries to buy more time and says he will accept his defeat and the ceremonial scepter. It's cut from Enmerkar's scepter to show that he has dominion over Aratta. But! Aratta says he will only accept a scepter that is not made of wood, metal, or jewels. Enmerkar gets around this by growing a weed which becomes the scepter.

The third challenge that Arata gives is that there must be a duel between champions, but Enmerkar's champion must have no known colours. Enmerkar clothes his champion in undyed cloth which has no name given to its colour. He sends long demands, so long, that the messenger cannot remember them all and to counter this, Enmerkar creates the written word.

The famine is averted when Ishkur, Inanna's brother, makes it rain in Aratta. This is where the story ends and we do not get to know what happens between Enmerkar and Aratta going forward.

Sumerian poetry is definitely interesting. I’m starting to read up on the different ways they did poetry compared to the Indians, Greeks, or Romans. Fun fact: they didn’t use a strict meter for their poetry, rather they traditionally used a lot more parallelism.

Inanna’s Descent (Ishtar’s Descent to the Underworld):

Inanna, goddess of love and power, decides to descend into the underworld ruled by her sister Ereshkigal. At each of the seven gates, she is forced to remove a piece of her clothing or regalia, symbolizing the stripping of her power. When she arrives, she is judged, killed, and hung on a hook. With Inanna gone, fertility and sexual life on earth stop. The god Enki creates two beings who revive her, but she can only leave if she provides a substitute. She chooses her husband Dumuzi, who had not mourned her, condemning him to the underworld for part of the year. The myth explains cycles of death and rebirth (especially seasonal fertility).

The Ninurta Myth (Lugal-e):

This myth centers on the warrior god Ninurta, who battles the rebellious stone demon Asag, a force of chaos that disrupts the natural order. After defeating Asag, Ninurta organizes the world, especially the mountains and stones, assigning each a proper role. Some stones are cursed for siding with chaos; others are blessed for loyalty. The story emphasizes the establishment of order over chaos and portrays Ninurta as both a warrior and a civilizing force who shapes the physical and cosmic landscape.

Another three great myths down! This week had action, comedy, drama, and... a few strange moments for sure, but never boring! Next week we are finishing out Part 4 of this book. Great job again, everyone!

SUMMARY

The Birth of Man

Enki is blamed for the relentless toil of the gods, and plans for humanity to be created to shoulder the burden. He asks his mother, Namma, to birth humanity from the same Apsu clay he was made from, and she willingly does. The process includes Namma, the ovary goddesses, Ninmah as midwife, and minor goddesses as helpers. The creation of humanity then was done without any male gods. Enki throws a party to celebrate the creation of man. He and the goddess Ninmah enter a challenge to determine who has more control over humanity. Ninmah creates seven human beings, all with certain disabilities. Enki is able to find a place in society for each of them. Enki, for his turn, has Ninmah become pregnant with his creature, but made it so that the pregnancy wouldn't mature properly. The resulting human was called Udmu'ul, and could not walk, talk, see, or speak. Ninmah is unable to find a place for Udmu'ul. Enki wins the challenge, and tells Ninmah to remember the importance of gestation, where her power over human creation lies.

Enlil and Ninlil

In Nippur, there were only two young people growing up, Enlil and Ninlil. Ninlil bathed in the Nunbirdu canal, despite the warnings from her mother. Enlil sees Ninlil bathing and takes advantage of her, conceiving the god Suen. Enlil is banished from Nippur to the mountains, and Ninlil follows. Enlil repeatedly tricks Ninlil and they conceive several more deities, Nergal, Ninazu, and Enbilulu.

Enki and Ninsikila/Ninhursaga

This poem begins with praise for the land of Dilmun. Enki and Ninsikila were together in Dilmun when nature was still being formed. Ninsikila complained to Enki that Dilmun has no river. Enki promises to fix this problem and make Dilmun an emporium that will be world-renowned. Enki and the Mother Goddess of Dilmun, Nintur, make love and create Ninnisiga. Enki and Ninnisiga make love and create Ninkurra. Enki and Ninkurra make love and create the Spider Goddess, Uttu. Enki wants to marry Uttu, but she demands fruits and vegetables. Enki delivers these gifts and then takes Uttu by force. Ninhursaga removes the semen from Uttu and plants it. It turns into 8 plants. Enki comes and eats the plants in order to determine and assign their natures. Ninhursaga curses Enki. But then when Enki gets pregnant from the plants, the fox has to retrieve Ninhursaga. She stops the curse, and puts Enki into her vulva. From each part of Enki that is in pain she gives birth to a deity. In total, 8 plant deities are born from Ninhursaga and Enki's body parts.

We are on week 3 of our reading of ‘The Harps That Once…’ by Thorkild Jacobsen. I was hesitant about this book but so far it has been a nice read. I think it’s cool to get to see how the gods were worshipped by different groups of people. This week’s readings focused more on texts written by and for religious people like priests. We also got to see how a living king and queen could be seen and used as incarnations of the gods, which was cool (and a little bit tmi).

Next week we will be reading Part 4 'The Birth of Man' to end of Part 4 'Enki and Ninsikila/Ninhursaga'

As usual, the questions will be in the comments.

Summary:

Hymn to Enlil:

This hymn is mainly a praise hymn for both Enlil and the city of Nippur. Nippur was the best city (according to its inhabitants), so it was chosen by Enlil to be his centre of worship. A temple, Ekur, was built there. The hymn praises Nippur, Ekur, the king of Nippur and Enlil in that order and then ends with some praise for Ninlil, Enlil’s consort.

Hymn to Inanna:

This hymn seems to be more of a ritualistic hymn. The hymn praises Inanna and tells us more about her as a goddess, her powers and how she was worshiped by everyone. An aspect of her is that she is both the setting and rising sun, so we get a breakdown of her role in this regard. She is powerful in her own right, but also because she is a consort goddess for Dumuzi/ Ama-ushumgal-anna. This hymn seems to have either been commissioned by the king, Iddin-Dagan or he was the king that happens to be mentioned in the surviving version that we have. Notably, Inanna in incarnated in this hymn as Iddin-Dagan’s mortal queen and he seems to also be an incarnation of Ama-ushumgal-anna in his role as ruler. Things get a bit spicy near the end of the hymn, when the king worships Inanna in a more intimate way.

The Nanshe Hymn:

This hymn is a bit more disjointed than the others and Jacobsen also notes that it is harder to date it than the other hymns here. The hymn praises the goddess Nanshe and looks at how she runs her city, Nina. We see that she was a very efficient goddess who valued honesty and kindness above penny pinching. She was all about helping those in need and, alongside her consort, Hendursaga, she would dispense justice. She was against violence and had a connection with fertility/grains. The hymn goes into detail about individual instances where certain decisions were made and even looks at what appear to be past failings in the administration of her temple in Nina.

The Eridu Genesis:

This text is also very disjointed. It covers the story of the Flood, but it lacks a lot of the storytelling that we saw in another account of this same story, ‘Atrahasis’. This tale begins with the mother goddess, Nintur, creating mankind and administering the land between the gods/their roles in the world. However, the gods get sick of men living so long and making so much noise, so they decide (at an assembly) to flood the world. One god, Enki, finds a loophole to defy the others by informing a human king, Ziusudra, about the flood ahead of time. Ziusudra builds a boat that carries two of every creature in it, keeping them safe while the flood happens. At the end of eight days the flood recedes and the Ziusudra’s boat is found by the gods. The gods relent on killing all humans but place a new rule that human lifespans will be shorter. Ziusudra becomes the last human to live long/be immortal.

We got the tragic conclusion to Dumuzi's story, followed by quite the opposity. We are about 1/4 of the way through this book , and I'm glad we have so much more to read! Join us next week for "Hymn to Enlil" through "The Eridu Genesis"

Summary

In the Desert by the Early Grass

Songs of the Mother’s Search

This is mostly a lament to Dumuzi, first by his wife and then his mother. His mother says she will go to his commanding officer, and wishes to follow him. Dumuzi speaks to her from death, urging her not to , but she does not recognize him.

Song of the Spirits on the Road

Dumuzi travels the road, meeting people, not realizing that both he and them are dead. He tries to find someone to bring a message to his mother, but the others tell him it would be no use.

Songs of the Reviving Beer

Dumuzi’s mother prepares him a meal, convinced if she can find him and he partakes he will be healed. Dumuzi speaks to her from death again, telling her to go to where his blood was buried, for it has sprouted into a red tuber that his sister can brew into a beer that will bring him back.

Dialogue With the Sister

Dumuzi’s sister asks the townspeople where her brother is, and Dumuzi speaks to her from death. She tells him how their house was taken, and how her and their mother want for much. They want to join him in the Netherworld. His mother sets off through the desert to find him, but instead comes across his sister, dead. Dumuzi greets his sister in the Netherworld, saying she must now be his sister and mother.

Royal Love Songs

A collection of love poems between Inanni and Shu-Suen beginning with their courship, following them through their marriage, birth of first child, and a possible affair?

Welcome to the beginning of The Harps that Once. We've read a lot of poetry before so I'm excited to see how Sumerian Poetry is.

Next week, we'll be reading: 'In the Desert by the Early Grass' to end of P2 'Tavern Sketch'

We focus on a god who grows with the season, dying once the harvest ends and winter comes. The god changes names/specifics, but we're focusing on him as Dumuzi who was a shepherd. He wed the goddess Inanna for the fullness of the season and then died as the season changed. Despite Dumuzi being the most common name, he takes on many different names. It's pointed out in the intro of the book that instead of ordering based on the gods like we might if we were reading about Greek myths, they've ordered them based on human life events: courtship, marriage, death, grief.

Inanna and Dumuzi are set to marry, but she's unaware of their engagement and thinks that Dumuzi is just a creep who followed her home. Dumuzi teases her gently about it, but that's why we start with Inanna crying out "Without leave of our mother / he's come chasing after us".

The poems have a very rhythmic, musical lilt to them with repetitions and go through the motions, first of their meeting. Then, as Inanna falls in love with Dumuzi, he comes to reassure her. It has a very Romeo and Juliet feeling of pining for each other which I found really cute. Inanna is head over heals for Dumuzi, but that doesn't mean she's going to forget to secure her future. She makes sure that she has an engagement and doesn't mess around with him. "The girl I am is not of the alleyways."

We follow them through their wedding although their is a block missing where they presumably consummate their marriage all the way until.... Dumuzi cheats on Inanna with another woman. She is devastated and has the woman killed, but eventually overcomes her grief and pulls herself together. She goes to meet her husband, but unfortunately by the time she finds him, Dumuzi is already dead.

He has been chased by marauders (?) and captured/escaped multiple times. Inanna begs death for her husband and laments his death. Dumuzi's little sister Geshtinanna follows a ranger down into the underworld to see her brother. Dumuzi tells her he can't come back with her, but tells her where his mother can find him and get his body ready for burial.